Using My Monsters

Sunday, 23 January 2011

A New House Rule

A Long Time Ago I wrote about the house rules we use in our games (and that we use to this day). Well, another one is being playtested now; namely that a minion inflicts double damage on a critical hit.

The logic behind this is simple; minions are actually worth quite a lot of XP, even when you take into account the higher damage they do now, and the fact that they tend to (especially in my games) bring other properties to the battlefield, such as a degree of control or support type boons, and so they should represent a proportional threat. Now I appreciate that minions are the mooks that get cut down in swathes, and this in no way changes. They still work the same as usual, the only difference is, they can, from time to time, give the PC's a good wallop - which is something they should bear in mind, and which the characters themselves would probably bear in mind (they, after all, don't know that their foes are predestined to die with a single hit).

And that's it. I ran a game for my nephew today, and out of the 12 or so minions in it, one got a crit, and inflicted double damage. It made the character and the player wince, but didn't spell the doom of balance or send the group spiralling towards a TPK - it merely made sure they took the minions seriously, and dealt with them swifty.

We shall see how it goes. The next regular group game is on Monday (Ormid et al), and though I don't think there are any minions due to appear, you know how these things sometimes take on a life of their own, and the unexpected occurs.